


The Makings of a Forever Girl

by Pyuly



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: AHHHHHHH I just love them together so much, Brief Misunderstandings, Canon Compliant, Cheesy, F/M, Kataang - Freeform, Marriage Proposal, Misunderstandings, That's my writing style, betrothal, cheddar cheese if you will, like super brief, like. So cheesy, our boy is very good but sometimes has one braincell
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-06-09
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:07:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24619594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pyuly/pseuds/Pyuly
Summary: “This is ridiculous! I’ve faced conquerors, beasts beyond the realms of imagination, spirits of differing strengths and sizes,so why can’t I do this?!”“Do what?” Aang shot up into the air as he felt a familiar palm rest on his shoulder. He quickly hid the betrothal necklace in his fist.In which Aang's nerves almost get the best of him at the last minute.OrIn which Aang makes true his proclamation that Katara is his forever girl.Now posted on Fanfiction . net
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 78





	The Makings of a Forever Girl

“Okay Momo…I’m ready.” 

Momo tilted his head. Despite his proclamation of readiness, Aang looked anything but. He paced back and forth, clutched a necklace in one hand, and rubbed the back of his neck with the other. 

Aang would propose to Katara. 

Well, sort of. Not so much a proposal and more of a declaration of everlasting love, but the sentiment remained the same. He stared at the betrothal necklace, his mind racing.

Several months ago, he spoke to Sokka and got his (and Hakoda’s) blessing to present a betrothal necklace to Katara. He knew with a strong certainty that he wanted to do this for her, and (after a rather pitiful attempt on Sokka’s part to intimidate him in treating his sister right) Sokka agreed to help Aang plan the schematics of it all.

The plan was for Sokka to distract Katara for a couple of hours while Aang and the rest of his friends got everything ready. He wanted to make the moment a memorable one, surrounded by their closest friends. He knew Katara would love it, seeing as the times where everyone could meet shortened every year, what with repairing the world from years of War. 

For the past couple days, Aang and Katara resided at the Fire Nation Palace, in addition to the rest of their friends, as the Fire Lord’s guests of honor. They arrived earlier in the week to plan the celebration of the fifth anniversary of the end of the Hundred Year War, now only a three days away. Aang wanted to offer the betrothal necklace before then, but he couldn’t bring himself to put the final stage of the plan into motion. 

“Everything I’ve ever done has led up to this moment. And you know, as nerve wracking as it might be, I can totally take this! I’m the Avatar for crying out loud!” Aang swirled to look at Momo and threw his hands up in borderline hysteria. Momo responded with chitters of (what Aang hoped was) encouragement. The airbender nodded aggressively. 

“Exactly! I’ve looked death in the eye more times than I can count, what’s the worst that can happen now?!” Momo chittered again, and Aang gasped in genuine horror. 

“ _Reject me?!_ Momo you can’t just say stuff like that! Even if it is a possibility…no, she doesn’t have a reason to do that, right? Right?!” Momo, unable to offer any advice, slinked off and left Aang alone and frustrated. The avatar groaned and clutched the necklace. 

“This is ridiculous! I’ve faced conquerors, beasts beyond the realms of imagination, spirits of differing strengths and sizes, _so why can’t I do this?!_ ” 

“Do what?” Aang shot up into the air as he felt a familiar palm rest on his shoulder. He quickly hid the betrothal necklace in his fist.

“Katara! Why’re you here?!” Katara stared at Aang, unimpressed. 

“Am I not allowed in our own room now?” 

“No! I mean- sorry, of course you are! I’m just surprised, uh, weren’t you off doing errands with Sokka?” Aang felt the slightest pinch of annoyance. So much for Sokka’s master plan! Katara peered at Aang with barely hidden suspicion. 

“Well I was, but I forgot my water pouch and wanted to grab it just in case.” She pointed behind Aang to where her water pouch rested on the side of their sliding door.

“Right, can’t go anywhere without this handy thing!”. He grabbed the pouch and began walking Katara out the door, “Well if that’s all you should probably get going, don’t wanna keep Sokka waiting and all!” Katara spun out of his grasp and faced him, confusion and concern clearly painted on her face. 

“Sokka will be fine. What’s this about not being able to do something? Is everything okay?” Aang groaned internally. Of course Katara would latch on to that! 

“Oh yeah it’s okay! I’m okay, everything’s okay – nothing to worry about!” 

“You sure? Cause it really didn’t sound like nothing”. Katara put one hand on her hip and Aang knew he messed up. Not wanting months of preparation to go down the drain, he said in earnest,

“No really, it’s fine! Just some frustrations regarding post-war shenanigans, you know how it goes!” Katara nodded in understanding but didn't look convinced. 

“Is this about the Fire Nation generals refusing to take part in the ceremony? If you want, we can go and talk to Zuko right now-” Katara began to walk – probably to bother Zuko – but Aang stopped her again. 

“No, no, not that it’s just – well you see it’s about the, you know, the – it’s really not even that important Katara, trust me!”. Katara’s eyebrows furrowed. What on earth’s spirit has gotten into him?

“Aang, you can talk to me. You know that I’m here for you”. Katara stepped forward and reached out to grab Aang’s currently clenched fist. Aang remembered the necklace concealed in his fist and, not wanting to risk her seeing it, he jerked back and let out a strangled “ _ **No!**_ ”. 

Hurt flashed through Katara’s face. Anger and frustration replaced it soon after.

“Fine! I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but I can tell when my presence isn’t wanted.” She snatched the water pouch out of the airbender’s hand.

Spirits above, help him.

Feeling guilty for hurting her feelings, Aang tried to catch her arm.

“Katara wait, I just-”

“No Aang, it’s fine. It’s obvious your dealing with something major-"

“Katara it really isn’t that serious, I’m just-”

“- and while I want to help you - ”

“This isn’t something you can help me with-”

“-it’s clear that you don’t want my part in it at all!” The pretense of Aang suddenly distancing himself clearly hurt her feelings as her voice came just short of a yell. “My apologies for thinking that years of partnership and teamwork would mean we wouldn’t keep secrets from each other-”

“ _I'm just trying to propose!_ ” 

Aang’s hand wrapped around Katara’s arm in a desperate attempt to stop her from leaving. He didn’t mean to let the word just come out! But as soon as the words left his mouth, he knew he could not take them back. He felt something inside of himself face-palm themselves, hard. 

Silence filled the space between them. Even Momo, who watched the two and added his own commentary from a distance, stopped chittering in the background. 

Eventually, like a deflated balloon, Aang slowly sank onto the ground, resting his face onto his knees. He felt Katara settle down beside him. Taking a shaky breath, 

“Aang, did you just say you were trying…”

“To propose? Yeah.” Aang sighed and rubbed his face aggressively, “…This isn’t at all how I wanted this to go.”

He felt Katara move as if to say something, but before she could, Aang grabbed her hands. She stopped at the feeling of a smooth, cool stone pressed against her palm. Aang took the opportunity to start, 

“I wanted to surprise you and shower you with so much love! It’s what you deserve, after all the time we’ve spent together. As a team, friend, partner– we’ve faced a lot of hardships together, and I just wanted this to be another memory you could look back on with joy .” He paused and took a deep breath and looked up into her eyes. “Katara, I love you. You know this – have known this for the past five years. There isn’t anyone else I could imagine spending my life with other than you.” 

He stopped again and waited for a response but met glassy eyes. Taking this as a sign that he could continue, 

“Air Nomads don't usually do stuff like marriages or proposals, but I really wanted to show how much I care so I…” He took both her hands and clasped them around the betrothal necklace he made. Katara brought it closer to her face, one hand going to her mouth in shock.

““It’s a betrothal necklace! Except you probably already know that, uhm.” The deep blue of the pendant glinted in the light. Three uneven swirling orbs decorated its surface: the symbol of Aang’s people. Aang carved the symbols himself rather than have one of the Northern Tribe’s craftsmen do it; he thought Katara might appreciate the gesture. Though misshapen and somewhat asymmetric in form, the personalized pendant pleased him. At least at the time. Now, the messy scribbles seemed to mock him.

She traced the deep and jagged carvings then touched the pendant fastened around her neck, her mother’s necklace. Worried that she might misinterpret his intentions, he spoke,

“I know how much your mother’s necklace means to you – and I don’t want you to think that I’m giving this to you so you can let her go because you love her so much – but I hope that you can accept this necklace and-”

Aang cut off abruptly as Katara launched herself at him, eyes glassy with unshed tears of happiness.

“Yes, yes, a million times, yes!” _It’s always been yes, from the moment we found you in that iceberg until now_ , she thought to herself. She leaned back to rest her forehead on the airbender’s, whose face now adorned a slight blush and a look of overwhelming joy. “Aang, this is beautiful. When did you even have the time to do this?”

"I made it when I went to visit the Northern Water Tribe!” Katara thought back and let out a noise of surprise. 

“For the Sea Territory Accords? That was over three months ago! You’ve had it all this time?” Aang nodded and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. 

“I didn’t know when I’d get a chance to go back up there, and I already knew by then that I wanted to do this for you. I waited for the right time to say it and with the anniversary around the corner, now just seemed like the best time.” Katara responded with a sound of appreciation and turned to let Aang put the betrothal necklace on her. He unfastened her mother’s necklace and handed it to her. She tied it to her wrist as a keepsake to her mother’s memory. 

With the betrothal necklace properly fastened around her neck, they turned back to embrace each other. For a while they sat there in silence. Later, they’d have to return to the real world and help with the anniversary preparations, but for a moment, all they could care to do was hold each other. Finally, 

“We don’t have to do it now, or any time soon!” Aang said. His fingers brushed through Katara’s hair. It’d be hard to find another period of availability. Somehow, they’d make it work. “I just wanted to make it clear that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. And when we do eventually have the ceremony, it doesn’t even have to be big. Just us and our closest friends and family.”

Mentioning their closest friends and family reminded Aang about the planned surprise and he groaned. 

Katara drew back to look at him. “What is it this time?” She came off as exasperated, but a small smirk and the quirk of an eyebrow alerted otherwise. Aang laughed and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment again. 

“I did mention that I planned on surprising you, and I got all our friends on board! I’m supposed to meet them in an hour or two to set things up, but seeing as how I’ve already given you the necklace…” he trailed off with an awkward chuckle. Katara, touched by how much effort Aang put into trying to surprise her, offered Aang a loving smile and rose from the floor. 

“Well I hate to be the one to put all your preparations to waste, so maybe we can turn it around and surprise them. It’ll be a nice way to kickback before we kick off the anniversary festival and you’ll get to enjoy it, without all the stress.” Aang sputtered indigently,

“Stressed?! Who said anything about being stressed!”

“Aang, you looked like you were about to cry,” she teased. Aang pouted, 

“This is just a really vulnerable moment, that's all.” Katara laughed and leaned towards Aang to kiss his cheek.

“I’m honored that I apparently have that effect on you.” Aang grinned and wrapped an arm around her shoulders as they made their way to the gardens. It’d be a while before any of their friends showed up for the planned surprise, but they would relish the quiet moments for themselves. Later, they'd face the inevitable chaos together.

“You didn’t know? Didn’t I tell you you’re my forever girl?”

~~ EXTRA ~~ 

A little while later, Aang would momentarily leave the gardens to fetch the celebratory items he hid for the original surprise. It’s around that time where Sokka would literally crash into Katara, nearly toppling the both of them into the turtleduck inhabited pond.

“Thank spirits Katara, I’ve been looking all over for you! Does it really take that long to grab a water pouch- _HEY!_ ” Sokka clutched his arm in pain, glaring at his sister who rubbed her fist in annoyance. "What was that for?!" 

“ _That's_ for keeping secrets and trying to keep my distracted- ”

“ _What?!_ It was hardly my fault as much as it was Aang’s plans- _AGH_ ” Another punch landed on Sokka’s other arm.

“- and _that's_ for ruining his surprise!” Katara finished. She crossed her arms and stuck her tongue out at Sokka.

“Katara! This isn’t fair! I’ll have you know I put about just as much effort into this whole shebang before you decided to run off FOR YOUR WATER POUCH-” he stopped again when Katara brought her brother in a tight hug.

“I know. I’m so lucky to have a brother that cares as much as you do.” Sokka faltered mid-rant and instead sighed, returning the hug. 

A few moments of silence later…

“…Girls are so moody”. 

When he eventually returned, Aang would find Sokka sulking under one of the garden trees, drenched in water. Katara wasn’t far off, waving at Aang while suspending a concerning amount of turtuleduck pond water above her head. It wouldn’t take long for him to put two and two together, and his resulting laughter would be loud enough to startle all of the palace’s guards.

**Author's Note:**

> AHHH after months of writers block and business, I have finally written something long enough to post :,^] . It's been a very very long year, and with everything happening in the world today, I wanted to write something lighthearted and _fluffy_ to give my brain a break.
> 
> Avatar has always been a show I've held close to my heart! I noticed in the comics that at some point, Katara's mother's necklace is exchanged for a different betrothal necklace - one sporting the symbol of the Air Nomads! I absolutely ADORE Kataang and imagined how funny it'd be for Aang to struggle with something like this. What can I say, I love projecting adorable awkwardness uwu.


End file.
